Method and apparatus for making books

ABSTRACT

The pages of a book are joined by glue located inward much farther from the back of the book than heretofore, accomplished by applying beads of glue of liberal width to preprinted webs fed from rolls, registering and juxtaposing the webs, cutting the webs along the beads of glue to expose glue edges and assembling cut sections into book form with the glue edges constituting the back of the book.

@Eilififi States Patent 1 1 1111 3,739,512 Bellanca 5] May 1, 1973 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR [56] References Cited MAKING BOOKS UNITED STATES PATENTS [75 Inventor: Joseph Bellanca Tallahassee 3,237,934 3/1966 Rosenberg ..270 53 73 Assigneez McCain Manufacturing Corp, 3,104,799 9/1963 Steidinger ....282/l 1.5 A X Chica O I 3,255,679 6/1966 Eckels ..282/l 1.5 X g 2,602,665 7/1952 Fulk ..270/53 [22] Filed: July 26, 1971 3,284,077 11/1966 Matuschke v.270/53 x [21 1 Appl- N04 165,484 Primary ExaminerLawrence Charles K' t Related us. Application Data Attorney James B mm e a] [63] Continuation-impart 6r Ser. No. 856,676, Sept. 10, 1 1 ABSTRACT 1969 abandoned The pages of a book are joined by glue located inward much farther from the back of the book than hereto- U-S. Cl. R, fore accomplished a beads of glug of liberal p [51] Int. Cl. .....B42c 19/00, B42b l/O2 width to preprinted webs fed from rolls, registering [58] Field of Search ..270/52, 53; 11/1; and juxtaposing the webs, cutting the webs along the ,sur (23-24) beads of glue to expose glue edges and assembling cut sections into book form with the glue edges constituting the back of the book.

14 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures COLLECTION STAl'lON PATENTEW 11975 3,730 512 SHEET 1 or 2 Wvvvvvvvvvvv\vvvrvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvyvvvvyvvvvvvvvv v a a INVENTOR JOSEPH V. BELLANCA ATTORN EY S METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING BOOKS This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 856,676 filed Sept. 10, 1969, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for making books wherein a plurality of preprinted webs are collated into a multi-layer web. Each individual web has a predetermined glue pattern applied to it prior to its being collated to form a multi-layer glued web.

One object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for forming a book without folding or sewing the assembled sheets.

Another object is to provide a method of forming a book with each sheet glued to its adjacent sheet.

Another object is to provide a method of forming a book from a plurality of webs of preprinted material wherein glue is applied to each web before it is collated with the other webs to form a multi-layer web.

A still further object is to provide an apparatus for forming books without the necessity of folding or sewing the sheets forming the books by utilizing collated preprinted webs of material.

The above and further objects and novel features of the invention will more fully appear from the following detailed description when the same is read in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation view showing one form of an apparatus employed to utilize the novel method of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view and taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing one form of the glue-applying apparatus;

FIG. 2A is a detail view showing one way of operating the glue apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing pagination;

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of an apparatus for forming a perfect bound book utilizing the novel method of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of an apparatus for forming a case bound book utilizing the novel method of this invention.

The novel method of this invention can be practiced by the utilization of known mechanisms arranged in a novel manner to provide a novel apparatus which is schematically shown in FIG. 1. The novel sheet web collator comprises a plurality of rolls ll of paper each of which is mounted to feed a single web 12 from each roll 11. Each roll, which has been previously printed on one or both sides on a conventional web press, is mounted on an unwind shaft 13 on the sheet web collator. The printing of the rolls may be done elsewhere and held in storage until it is desired to convert the printed rolls into books. Consequently the printing of the rolls is not shown or described in this application. The rolls 11, instead of being mounted on the parallel unwind shafts 13 as shown, may be mounted on powerdriven unwind shafts and fed to the collating conveyor over right angle turning bars and feeding rolls in a manner well known to the art.

Each web 12 is passed over one or more feed rollers 17 and laid down on an endless band conveyor 14 which forms a part of the collator 10. As viewed in FIG. 1, the web 12 at the far right is the first web to be laid down in direct contact with the conveyor band 14, and the rest of webs 12 are successively stacked onto the previously laid webs to form a multi-layer web 15. The single webs 12 forming each roll 11 are provided with spaced perforations adjacent one or both edges of the web which are formed as the web is printed on the web press. A plurality of pins 16 are formed along the edges of the conveyor 14 and are spaced from each other a suitable distance to accommodate the spaced perforations previously formed along the edges of the webs 12. As each web is fed onto the conveyor band 14 the engagement of the pins 16 with the perforations along the edges of the webs 12 maintain the collated webs 12 in perfect register with each other.

As shown in FIG. 2 a glue-applying mechanism 18 is positioned adjacent to each web 12 at a point where the web passes over one of the feed rollers 17. The glue-applying mechanism is of a conventional design wherein the glue is applied to form a bead of glue 30 extending transversely of the web. Nonetheless, I show in FIG. 2A that the stub shaft of the feed roller may be urged by a spring 17? against a cam 17R. The cam has a lobe 17L which, when presented to the stub shaft is effective to lift" the related roller 17 to press the web against the glue applyer 18 to transfer glue, by contact, to the web. The cam is timed and configured to produce such contact as the glue bead area of the web moves past the gluer 18. Thus, the glue-applying mechanism is easily adjusted or modified to apply the transverse beads of glue at longitudinally spaced apart positions so that the beads of glue 30 will be placed between the longitudinally spaced blocks of printed material on the web 12.

As explained hereinafter, I am concerned, in one mode of practice, with the ultimate production of case bound or perfect bound books assembled from cut sections containing sheets representing the complete book, so by definition the printed material or indicia presented in said spaced blocks is variant from block to block (page to page) on each web, paginated that is, and is not repetitious as in the instance of manifolds.

The glue-applying mechanism can also be of the type that continuously applies beads of glue longitudinally of the web sheet with the beads of glue spaced transversely of the web, as at 12A and 128, FIG. 2, so as to be positioned between the blocks of printing which are also spaced transversely of the web. In this event, the glue applying means could take the form of rollers, constantly coated with glue, and constantly in contact with the printed webs. These rollers could be located, for example, adjacent the glue means 18 where the webs are relatively taut. The glue-applying mechanism can also, if it is desired, be of the type that applies beads of glue in both a transverse and longitudinal path on the web 12 with said beads of glue being placed between the blocks of printing on the web 12. The blocks of printing will be further defined below. Additionally the size of the bead of glue 30 may be regulated in accordance with the binding procedure desired.

After each web 12 has a bead of glue 30 of the desired size and configuration applied to it the web is laid down on the conveyor band 14. The web at the beginning of the upper reach of the conveyor band is laid down first and it has no glue applied to the back of it. The other glued webs 12 are successively laid down on each other to form a multi-layer web 15. Each web of this multi-layer web is glued to each other so after the initial register of the webs 12 by virtue of the pins 16 on the conveyor band the glue on the webs supplements the pins 16 to maintain the webs of the multilayer web in register.

The glued multi-layer web is fed continuously from the collating conveyor 14 to a gripper pull unit comprising driven feed rollers 21 and a yieldable pressure roller 22. Between the conveyor 14 and the gripper pull units are a plurality of well known cutting discs 23 and 24. These cutting discs are so spaced transversely of the multi-layer web 15 that the perforated edges are trimmed and so that the web is Iongitudinally slit into a plurality of widths depending upon the form of the block printing on the particular webs being used. It is also to be understood that each slit width has its own gripper pull unit.

As shown in FIG. 1, a glue applying mechanism 18 and associated contact-producing roller 17 is located between the cutter means 23-24 and the left-hand pin wheel. The glue mechanism as thus located may be activated to apply beads of glue 30 to the topmost web of the multi-layer web 15 for purposes discussed in more detail below.

The longitudinally slit multi-layer web 15 is then fed into rotating cutter rolls 25 and 26 of a conventional design to cut the web transversely across the plurality of widths. These transverse cuts are spaced to conform to the length of the book. As each transverse cut is made the severed sections fall-onto a conventional conveyor 27 and the proper sections are gathered together in a well known manner to make complete books as will be further explained below. The transverse cut is made to preferably fall right along the transverse bead of glue 30 so that the bead of glue is exposed at the cut which,

- when the book is assembled, will form the bound edge of the book. Each section cut from the multi-layer web 15 now comprises a plurality of sheets (that is, sheets constituting pages for the book) with glue between each sheet at the edge of the section to be bound together with the required number of other sections to make a complete book. Note that in FIG. 1, lshow the severance of two units which will become books B1 and B2 as will now be explained.

FIG. 3 shows diagrammatically the three topmost webs 12-1, 12-2 and 12-3 of the five webs constituting the multi-layer web 15 as they are fed to the transverse cutter 25-26 and as they emerge therefrom, it being understood that these three webs are juxtaposed. In FIG. 3 the webs are shown in a spread condition so that the pagination or text sequence involved may be easily understood.

Considering web l2-1, the paged blocks of printing, as viewed from the-top, are pages 1, 7 and 13, transversely across the web. Underneath will be pages 2, 8 and 14, respectively. With the webs juxtaposed, pages I and 2 of web 12-1 will lie atop pages 3-4 of the second web, and the pages of the second web will lie atop the printed pages of the third web.

When the transverse cut is made by the cutter roll 26, and bearing in mind that the webs were slitted or cut longitudinally, cut sections S1, S2 and S3, representing book B1, will fall onto the conveyor 27 in the spaced relation shown in FIG. 3. The conveyor transports the cut sections S1, S2 and S3 to a collecting station, the arrangement being such that section S3 (pages 13 through 18) falls first, section S2 having pages 7 through 12 falls atop section S3, and similarly with section S1. The sections of course may be collected or collated in a different fashion, but in any event, the sections to constitute book B1 are collected in page order as a group and are to be bound as hereinafter described.

The webs 12-1, 12-2 and 12-3 also present the pages for the second book B2 and so on. It will be appreciated thatin the interest of simplicity I have not shown the other two webs of the five layer assembly.

The conventional method for the manufacturing of a book comprises the gathering of the signatures, sewing together the gathered signatures, binding the gathered and sewn signatures and applying a cover. Two of the most common types of binding of sewn and gathered signatures is the so-called perfect binding" and the case binding. In the perfect binding" the gathered and sewn signatures are held in a firm blocked position and the backbone is ground. Glue is applied to the ground backbone and a cover is then applied. In case binding the gathered and sewn signatures are engaged near the bound end of the signatures by opposing rotating rollers so that the outer end of the signatures are fanned into a partially open position. Glue is applied to the fanned open signatures and a cover applied. Under the present invention the glue is already applied to the sheets with the glue between each sheet located much further from the edge of the sheet than is possible in the case where glue is attempted to be forced between the gathered and sewn signatures.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the making of a perfect bound book from gathered previously glued sheets 35 presented by book sections S1, S2 and S3. The opposed plate members 36 are moved toward each other near the glued book end compressing the assembly of glued sheets 35 intoa block which is squared at the glued end. With the compressing, some glue will be squeezed from between the glued sheets. If desired, more glue may be added and a crash 37 and more glue can be added before a cover is added to the blocked sheets 35. This operation may be carried out on conventional perfect binding mechanisms without the necessity of the conventional steps utilized to force glue between the gathered signatures.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the making of a case bound book from collated previously glued sheets 35. A pair of opposed oppositely rotating roll members 40 engage the assembled previously glued sheets 35 near the glued end to form a fan shaped end which is engaged by a shoe member 41. The shoe member 41 is the same as presently used on conventional round and backing machines. The shoe member 41 moves in a back and forth motion to smooth the end into a perfect arc shape. As in conventional binding a crash may be applied over the bound end and thereafter a cover applied and a hinge member formed on the cover in a well known manner.

Regardless of terms of art, one ultimate procedure, FIGS. 4 and 5, is to assemble the cut sections S1, S2 and S3 with their cut edges, presenting the glue beads, constituting the back of the book and then to compress the assembly between a pair of opposed members to squeeze out air and bring the glue areas into tight, intimate contact with the opposed page or sheet.

The entire apparatus may be driven by a suitable common source of power, such as an electric motor (not shown) through a series of gear boxes 19 connected to the power source and to each other by a shaft 20. Well known types of driving connections are made from the gear boxes 19 to the collator 10, the gripper pull units 21, 22, the trimming and slitting cutters 23, 24, and the cutter rolls 25 and 26.

In a more elaborate mode of practice, there may be as many as or 12 webs, or the webs may have a greater width than shown, say, a width of 6 to 8 sheets, to make up a book of 3 or 4 hundred pages. In this more elaborate practice, a single transverse cut will not be enough to complete a single book as the book B1. Instead, it will be necessary to assemble sections from repeated transverse cuts and collate these cut sections, in which event it is necessary to activate the glue mechanism 18'. In this same connection, however, it may be noted that some books (e.g. stamp saver books, brochures, pamphlets and so on) have inexpensive, plain paper covers just like the interior pages. In this instance, the cover pages may be part of the webs 12 so that activation of the glue mechanism 18' would not be necessary.

It will also be appreciated that the text on the pages will dictate whether the glue beads are transverse to web movement or longitudinal, that is, parallel to web movement and therefore continuous. In FIG. I, the text is shown as to direction of printing, in which event the beads of glue are transverse. Regardless, the method of the present invention is characterized by cutting the webs, after registry, both transversely and longitudinally to produce individual book sections presenting certain pages in numerical or text sequence, at least one of the cuts being made right along the glue bead edge, that is, coincident with the glue bead edge for the purpose mentioned.

Although one embodiment of an apparatus, having a limited number of modifications, has been illustrated and described for carrying out the method of the invention, it is to be expressly understood that other com parable apparatus may be used. Various changes may also be made in the specific features of the method without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

2. The method of claim 1 in which the beads of glue are applied transversely to the path of movement of the webs.

3. The method of claim 1 in which beads of glue are applied longitudinally.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the cut sections are assembled between a pair of opposed members, in which a cover is applied to the cut edges and in which the assembled cut sections are bound by perfect bindmg.

5. The method of claim 4 in which the registering conveyor presents continuously moving registering pins l. The method of making a book from rolls of web and in which the webs are perforated to fit the pins.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the cut sections are assembled between a pair of opposed members, in

which a cover is applied to the cut edges and in which the assembled cut sections are bound by case binding.

7. The method of claim 6 in which the registering conveyor presents continuously moving registering pins and in which the webs are perforated to fit the pins.

8. The method of making a book from rolls of web material, each web fed from a roll having thereon book-paginated printed block patterns spaced transversely and longitudinally, comprising the steps of simultaneously feeding the web material from a plurality of unwind shafts, applying beads of glue between the printed block patterns of successive webs as fed from the unwind shafts, afterwards laying each web successively at spaced locations on a registering conveyor so that the webs are laid successively one atop another on the conveyor and successively glued to one another on the conveyor by said beads of glue to form a multi-layer web with the individual webs in registry with each other on the conveyor, cutting along the beads of glue subsequent to registry to produce cut sections comprising sheets having glue between each sheet and with the glue beads located inward of and exposed at the cut edges, and assembling and binding the required number of such cut sections to make a complete book with the exposed glue forming a bound edge of the book.

9. The method of claim 8 in which the beads of glue are applied transversely to the path of movement of the webs.

10. The method of claim 9 in which beads of glue are also applied longitudinally.

11. The method of claim 8 in which the cut sections are assembled between a pair of opposed members, in which a cover is applied to the cut edges and in which the assembled cut sections are bound by perfect bindmg.

12. The method of claim 11 in which the registering conveyor presents continuously moving registering pins and in which the webs are perforated to fit the pins.

3,730,5 l 2 7 Q 8 13. The method of claim 8 in which the cut sections 14. The method of claim 13 in which the registering are assembled between a pair of opposed members, in conveyor presents continuously moving registering pins which a cover is applied to the cut edges and in which and in which the webs are perforated to fit the pins. the assembled cut sections are bound by case binding. 4t 

1. The method of making a book from rolls of web material, each web fed from a roll having thereon book-paginated printed block patterns spaced transversely and longitudinally, comprising the steps of simultaneously feeding the web material from a plurality of unwind shafts, applying beads of glue between the printed block patterns of successive webs as fed from the unwind shafts, afterwards laying each web successively at spaced locations on a registering conveyor so that the webs are laid successively one atop another on the conveyor and successively glued to one another on the conveyor by said beads of glue to form a multilayer web with the individual webs in registry with each other on the conveyor, cutting the webs both longitudinally and transversely subsequent to registry to produce individual book sections having pages in sequence, the cutting step including a cut along the beads of glue so that the cut sections comprise sheets having glue between each sheet and with the glue beads located inward of and exposed at the cut edges, and assembling and binding the required number of such cut sections to make a complete book with the exposed glue forming a bound edge of the book.
 2. The method of claim 1 in which the beads of glue are applied transversely to the path of movement of the webs.
 3. The method of claim 1 in which beads of glue are applied longitudinally.
 4. The method of claim 1 in which the cut sections are assembled between a pair of opposed members, in which a cover is applied to the cut edges and in which the assembled cut sections are bound by perfect binding.
 5. The method of claim 4 in which the registering conveyor presents continuously moving registering pins and in which the webs are perforated to fit the pins.
 6. The method of claim 1 in which the cut sections are assembled between a pair of opposed members, in which a cover is applied to the cut edges and in which the assembled cut sections are bound by case binding.
 7. The method of claim 6 in which the registering conveyor presents continuously moving registering pins and in which the webs are perforated to fit the pins.
 8. The method of making a book from rolls of web material, each web fed from a roll having thereon book-paginated printed block patterns spaced transversely and longitudinally, comprising the steps of simultaneously feeding the web material from a plurality of unwind shafts, applying beads of glue between the printed block patterns of successive webs as fed from the unwind shafts, afterwards laying each web successively at spaced locations on a registering conveyor so that the webs are laid successively one atop another on the conveyor and successively glued to one another on the conveyor by said beads of glue to form a multi-layer web with the individual webs in registry with each other on the conveyor, cutting along the beads of glue subsequent to registry to produce cut sections cOmprising sheets having glue between each sheet and with the glue beads located inward of and exposed at the cut edges, and assembling and binding the required number of such cut sections to make a complete book with the exposed glue forming a bound edge of the book.
 9. The method of claim 8 in which the beads of glue are applied transversely to the path of movement of the webs.
 10. The method of claim 9 in which beads of glue are also applied longitudinally.
 11. The method of claim 8 in which the cut sections are assembled between a pair of opposed members, in which a cover is applied to the cut edges and in which the assembled cut sections are bound by perfect binding.
 12. The method of claim 11 in which the registering conveyor presents continuously moving registering pins and in which the webs are perforated to fit the pins.
 13. The method of claim 8 in which the cut sections are assembled between a pair of opposed members, in which a cover is applied to the cut edges and in which the assembled cut sections are bound by case binding.
 14. The method of claim 13 in which the registering conveyor presents continuously moving registering pins and in which the webs are perforated to fit the pins. 